GE15: Azmin boasts ‘incumbency’, former protégé Amirudin banks on serving as MB

GOMBAK – Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali believes that the advantage of incumbency gives him the edge over his opponents as he looks to defend his Gombak parliamentary seat under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) banner.

This does not mean the Bersatu supreme council member can take his foot off the pedal.

He faces the very person he had mentored during his years at PKR, Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, who incidentally also succeeded him as the Selangor menteri besar in 2018.

Azmin, however, insists that voters are now more mature in making informed choices.

“They want to see whether the candidate or incumbent has served the constituency and the rakyat. I’m confident I have done my level best to develop Gombak,” he said to reporters after filing his nomination papers here this morning.

“Today, we can see that Gombak is among the districts that are fast developing. I have given my service to provide infrastructure, housing, schools and houses of worship because we want Gombak to remain prosperous.”

Azmin said his accomplishments have allowed the momentum to be on his side ahead of polling day for the 15th general election (GE15) on November 19, but he acknowledged the need to continue working hard.

He also believes that his previous stints as Selangor menteri besar and the federal international trade and industry minister have allowed him to showcase his ability, just as well as the PN coalition has done during its time in federal power.

“Particularly during the pandemic, when the situation was very challenging, our performance in terms of trade, investment and the general economy was quite convincing,” said the former PKR vice-president who was fired from the party in February 2020 and later joined Bersatu.

I’m no longer under Azmin’s shadow: Amirudin

Azmin’s main contender for the Gombak seat is Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Amirudin, who took over as menteri besar of Selangor and is still heading the state today.

Both face Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, Pejuang’s Datuk Aziz Jamaludin Mohd Tahir and independent Zulkifli Ahmad in the contest for the seat.

Amirudin also believes he stands a very good chance to defend the seat for his party PKR, since Azmin had won it under the party’s ticket.

He ascribes this confidence to the mood and sentiments of the supporters on the ground.

“In the two years since Azmin left PH, I have taken over the management of Gombak and listened to the views of the people here,” said Amirudin. “I have used whatever ability I have as the menteri besar to resolve any local issues.

“Of course, the challenges are there, but I believe the core PH supporters and the voices of the Gombak people are quite clear – that they will bring us victory.

“But this is not something I will take for granted,” he stressed.

Interestingly, Amirudin was seen as Azmin’s protégé during his earlier years in active politics.

He, however, now dismisses suggestions that he is still living under his former mentor’s shadow.

Presently a PKR vice-president, he noted that it has been over two years since he stopped following Azmin and chose to remain loyal to PH’s cause of ensuring prosperity and harmony.

“He (Azmin) deviated to a different path, and it has been proven to have given birth to an unstable government.

“If I am still following his shadow, certainly I would have followed him wherever he went.”

Not impossible to win Gombak, says BN man

Meanwhile, although Megat Zulkarnain views Azmin and Amirudin as the two heavyweights in Gombak, he feels BN still stands an outside chance of securing victory.

The Selangor Umno deputy chief pointed out that the outcome of the election here could depend on the remaining 30% of fence-sitting voters, who have yet to make a decision on who to support.

“It is not easy, I must admit. And I don’t want to be overconfident,” he said.

“But it is not impossible. We know they are fighting for which ballot boxes, while BN will consistently serve.

“We have our core supporters who stick with us no matter what. We will prove our service through our work and manifesto, which we will announce in a couple of days.

“There is nothing impossible. No one expected BN to lose the 14th general election. And it is not impossible for BN to return to power in Selangor.

“Politics is about numbers and is very dynamic. Anything can happen,” he said. – The Vibes, November 5, 2022